


Flying Kings

by Hazazel



Series: Oikage week 2 - april 2015 [8]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, circus AU, they're all acrobats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 22:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3706187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hazazel/pseuds/Hazazel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"They're not calling you the new King without reasons."<br/>“I hate this nickname”, he muttered, cheeks aflame. “It's stupid and you're the king already, what's the point.”<br/>Oikawa laughed, and ruffled a hand through his hair – it felt like crows were tearing his stomach to pieces.<br/>“It's renown, Tobio, King means renown !”</p><p>The circus AU nobody asked for</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flying Kings

**Author's Note:**

> Day 8 ? The last day ? This week has gone so fast ! Thanks again to the Oikage week Tumblr page for creating this, I really enjoyed writing these prompts ! (I do not know how to link properly so I just put it up there).
> 
> Laurel - renown, success

Everybody knew Oikawa Tooru, his name and his looks, the circus he was part of, and above all, how he jumped. Oikawa Tooru was the best acrobat in the whole country.

“One day I'll be like him.”

“Like the Grand Kind ? But, Kageyama...”

“Oh. Yeah. I'll be even better.”

Hinata went back to stretching with a nod. Tobio joined him, after a few more seconds staring at the tiny poster under the bigger, "Aobajousai" one. “Karasuno Circus – The Flying Crows”. He would jump as high as he could, and Hinata would be there to catch him on the trapeze, and they would perform again and again until every single jump of his made them reach the top.

 oo 

“Karasuno Circus, eh ? I heard they have good trapezes this year.”

“Iwa-chan, could you please stop going to watch every circus we pass ? You know we're better anyway.”

“Assikawa, do you even realise how hard it is to keep your title until you decide to retire ?! If you become crap even being the "Grand Kind" won't bring any money to feed the troupe.”

“Fine, fine, tell me more about this trapeze.”

“Not 'trapeze'. They're two, like us. Maybe even copycats. Ever since you got famous, lots of acrobats have been turning to trapeze... and some might very well overthrow you.”

“Iwa-chan, that's not enough to scare me and you know it ! They work in a pair ?”

“Yes, or so people say."

"Only two's not enough to beat us, though. We're a team of six.”

“We're still a pair, Oikawa...”

"But us two only would be like crap ! Imagine, a show of two acrobats !"

Hajime merely grunted, going outside of their caravan to check if the others were building the rows of seats correctly. Karasuno probably had no tent, and would perform in the open, using trees and strange wood structures like most cheap shows did. Still, they had been getting quite a good amount of attention lately, it would not hurt to go and see.

oo

The clamour of the crowd reminded him of the beating of a giant heart. Erratic, deep, loud beats echoing his own when Tobio stepped under the tent. Everything was dark, but Tobio knew the way like the back of his hand, Hinata's hitched breathing matching his own. This was what they lived for.

“Welcome ! Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Karasuno Circus !”

Sawamura had started talking and soon...

“Let the show begin !”

Silence, now, deeper than the previous background noise, and then voices humming the hypnotic, familiar rhythm. Tobio did not need light to guide him, Hinata's footsteps were a lifeline for him to follow.

 _Inhale_.

Hinata started running as Yamaguchi lit his cape, orange heatless fire on black fabric, casting shadows all over his face like a scowling mask.

 _Exhale_.

He ran, ran to the end of the path and -

_jumped_

\- an explosion in his heart and ears, as the crowd's cheers drowned his brain. Hinata was smiling at him, had caught his hands, as he always did, no matter how fast Tobio ran. Soon the other team members had joined them, swirling figures around his cape of light.

The loudest sound was the beating of his heart.

oo 

“ Why did you hold me back ?”

“There was _no way_ I was going to let you go down on the circus ring and _ruin their performance_ !”

“I wasn't going to interrupt, Iwa-chan ! I only wanted to get _closer.”_

“And disturb them ?”

Tooru did not answer at first, furiously biting his lips, exhaling loudly as he threw his hands in the air.

“This one – the one with the cape. He was a King, Iwa-chan, a little King with no crown–”

“Come on, he's nowhere near your skill.”

Tooru's head, voice, whole body, _dropped_ .

“He's way better than me.” The dark expression was wiped by the cheerful smile Tooru was known for. With a new flourish of his hands, as fake as the first, he added “I can't wait to see what he becomes !”

oo

He had seen Oikawa-san while he was up with Hinata, and after the show, he had followed him outside – because who would not, Oikawa was the Grand King of trapeze and he had come to watch Tobio jump. He hadn't left yet, standing with his partner over the entrance of the circus, too close not to be overheard.

_“He's way better than me.”_

 Tobio was not. He really, really was not. Oikawa-san was a spirit, an angel flying high, and _everybody knew_ he was flying.

“Crows are not elegant,” he told Hinata this night. “Let's practice more.”

Hinata had found him outside, several hours later, shaking with cold and rage and joy. He merely huffed, and gave Tobio his bowl of soup.

* * *

“Karasuno ! They're here ! I heard they got a new show - it's going to be amazing !”

The large black and orange banner hung in the trees for the summer festival of Miyagi had the rumours spreading like wildfire.

“Tooru, they're...”

“I know, Iwa-chan, people can't seem to stop talking.”

Three years. The boy must be a prodigy now. Tooru would not be surprised to learn he had grown wings – his reputation sure had, laurel crown on the King's head. Tooru was torn between jealousy and desire. See, watch, examine, possess.

“C'mon Iwa-chan, if we don't hurry we won't have good tickets !”

The show still started in complete darkness, voices chanting a melody of fire and air. The boy was not running, he was standing alone in the middle of the ring – he had grown too, grown so much, more graceful and lean and strong. So much better.

He leaped.

He was flying, wide wings of the same heatless fire, aerial choreography of light with his partner. The Shadow King and his Orange Crow. It was the most beautiful thing Tooru had ever seen.

oo

“You were fantastic !”

Hinata was raising his hands high for Tobio to clap on, but he didn't make the move.

“You're disturbed because he was watching again, right ? The Grand King.”

“...Yeah. Fourth row, much closer than last time.”

“Bakayama... You really don't wanna talk to him ?”

“Talk to who ?”

They hadn't seen him creep closer to their caravan. Hinata smiled and left, waving goodbye and hopping away to “find Natsu, who knows where she's been going while we were away”.

“So, 'Bakayama', who is it you need to talk to ?”

Oikawa was not waiting for an answer, Tobio hoped, because he could have stood there in a daze all day.

“You've made a lot of progress since last time I saw you. They're not calling you the new 'King' without reasons.”

“I hate this nickname”, Tobio muttered. “It's stupid and you're the king already, what's the point.”

Oikawa laughed, and ruffled a hand through Tobio's hair – he felt like crows were joyfully tearing his stomach into pieces.

“It's renown, 'King' means renown !”

“But... then, aren't all the members of the troupe Kings as well ?”

“Your team is good, but you are... You're special. That's why you're King.”

Maybe this part he could get – no one could do what he did with Hinata, the jumps and the speed and the accuracy.

“You don't... you provoke a different kind of answer.”

This part puzzled Tobio more, and it must have shown on his face.

“Aah, don't worry your pretty head over it, small King, you'll understand soon enough.”

“You're only two years older, no need to sound so patronising.”

“Oh, really ? I don't even have to feel guilty, then. Until our next encounter, King !”

He leaned down to press his lips on Tobio's forehead and left, humming slightly. Maybe Tobio did not fully understand, but the crows in his stomach were dancing in frantic ecstasy.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to all the people that left kudos and read my fanfiction, it always makes me smile to see that someone is enjoying what I did !


End file.
